Innovation

Note: This is the first chapter from ‘Innovated in China’ (2017). “Was that building always there?” – Liu Zhilin, Beijing Local I LIKE TO SIT IN CAFES AND WORK. In fact, I’m doing just that right now. I’ve been frequenting this particular place for the past two years—a comfy, trendy space that serves a mean cappuccino. Located in Zhongguancun, Beijing’s very own dubbed “Silicon Valley”, the café menu has remained virtually untouched throughout my many visits here, while the dining experience has become nearly unrecognizable. Gone are the days of waiting for a server to take my order. Now, I browse a magazine-like menu on my phone after using WeChat to scan a QR code on the table. I also no longer need to open or even bring a wallet along to pay for my food. After selecting the items I want, I proceed straight to the payment method selection and…

Interview China Innovation Entrepreneurship I recently had the fortune to sit down with Mr. Dickie Liang-Hong Ke, a highly accomplished business strategist, investor, and educator, to probe his mind on innovation and entrepreneurship in China. Mr. Liang-Hong Ke studied to become a software engineer, but his real passions lied in business. He built his first startups while still in college and later switched into sales, marketing, and telecommunications. Since then, he has led projects for industry leaders such as Ericsson, Microsoft, and Nokia, before becoming a Sloan Fellow at London Business School. During the interview, we discussed misconceptions about Chinese innovation, hot tech topics like blockchain, and market strategy for Chinese and non-Chinese companies. The following is the transcript of our fire-side chat and Mr. Liang-Hong Ke’s fascinating insights. CH: You dabble in a lot of areas. From your LinkedIn page, it appears you’ve been a manager, entrepreneur, writer, and…

WeChat Mini Apps: Tencent’s WeChat is a few moments away from rolling out what could be the end of App Stores. Ironically, this big threat to the smart-phone application industry carries a deceptively innocent name— Mini Apps. WeChat’s revolutionary new feature essentially sounds like ‘application inception’— “an app within the WeChat app”, according to Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent’s Senior Vice President. While the necessity of such a feature may not be immediately apparent to the average smart-phone user, there is far more to be gained from Mini Apps than initially meets the eye. For one, Mini Apps provide the essential quality of convenience—turning WeChat into a truly all-encompassing platform that successfully addresses people’s natural affinity for simple, all-in-one products. This arguably, is essentially the very essence of Chinese innovation. “These are apps that you don’t need to install; you can open them simply by searching or scanning a QR code”, says Zhang Xiaolong.…

Traits of Chinese Entrepreneurs: Many a man has been born with a creative mind that has birthed innovative ideas. But without the right thick-skinned traits, the majority will find it difficult to spin their ideas into a successful business. Still, that hasn’t stopped people from trying. With the world’s many shaky economies and uncertain futures ahead, the 21st century has thus far birthed a plethora of hopeful entrepreneurs eager to take control of their own destinies. This trend can also be observed in China as the country continues its rapid progress towards becoming a global leader in modernization and innovation. However, when compared to entrepreneurs from other countries, there are some interesting differences that come to light when the average Chinese entrepreneur is put under the microscope. Ranging from background, to gender, age, skills and behavior, Chinese entrepreneurs have a clear and distinct profile of their own. The concept of a “Chinese…

China’s Startup Incubators: The business world is notoriously known to be a vicious place. It is a world that is highly competitive, where players can be fiercely protective of their domain and are unafraid to adopt “dog-eat-dog” tactics to survive. In this environment, young startups are usually left to fender the big wolves for themselves or otherwise shrivel up and fade away. Enter business incubators, a concept born in the US in the late 1950s which essentially serves to give smaller newcomers a chance to grow and shine. Ranging from mentorship and investments, to providing primary resources and services for startups, incubators are organizations that seek to help startups attain their initial footing in the business world. Startup incubators have experienced a renaissance of sorts since 2011, with the global trend of entrepreneurship and innovation taking off amidst the sea of failing economies. China too, has seen a dramatic rise in such…

China Innovation: Innovation is everywhere. It is behind every new idea, every solution to a problem, and any person who has dared to be different. But beyond the poetic nature of the term, innovation is also everywhere in the literal sense. The 21st century has seen the term surge in popularity, evolving into a buzzword that is heard daily in the worlds of business and economics. The direct implication of this overusage is the word’s eventual loss of meaning. When everything is innovation, then nothing is really innovation anymore. China’s relationship with the word ‘innovation’ is an interesting one. Only three short decades ago, the country was struggling to make ends meet, with high poverty rates, a tormented national psyche, and widespread famine ravaging the country. But following the country’s massive reconstruction under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms, China today is virtually unrecognizable from its 20th century past. A world leader in…